MFW K: water

This chapter, of course, was fun :) We had a warm week & we played with water, what could be funner? 

We floated things, sank things,

 dissolved things, realized oil & water don't mix :),

 and even enjoyed some lemonade :)

 After tying the oil/water not mixing to ducks, we decided a visit to the ducks was in order, with lunch with Papa, of course :)

Then we studied how currents carry things

We also filled balloons with water and froze them. We were hoping to make a snowman but it wouldn't stay up :(, such is the life in Cali :) Anyway, we estimated how long it would take for them to melt, 

and then we watched the liquid turn to steam, measuring the remains.

I love the boys' drawings this week :) Z6 (top) drew his with color & then watercolored over it. J5 doesn't quite like to do what others are doing so he opted to just crayon and not paint, too. As frustrating as it is sometimes, I was just glad to get a drawing out of him :)

Water. It really is amazing. In fact, we can't live without it. Same with our spirit. We just can't live life to the fullest without God filling & quenching our souls. Eventually, we'd just dry up like a leaf disconnected from it's tree :/ It's a good lesson to learn :)

Pure randomness: a little of this & a little of that

My Z6 LoVeS to draw. It seems his outlet. We borrowed a Draw Write Now from his Aunt & while Hubby took the other 2 to Home Depot one night, Z & I sat & did a few pages (his is on the right, in case you were wondering :)). I have piles of his drawings all. over. the. house! so I bought him a drawing journal recently in hopes of containing his creations a little better :)

 Whew! It's been warm around here! We met some friends at the park & it was 85*... having ice cream after never felt so good :)

 My J5 :) My passionate, strong-headed, amazing little boy who is growing up way too fast...

 I call this the "I'm a Mom Schedule"... because no day ever goes as planned, no minute can really be scheduled (unless it's an appointment & then everything revolves toward it!), & nothing stays clean longer than 5 minutes... This is what I do when I'm bored :)

 A look at my boys' stars... each one has a chore/project written on it in dry erase & I add & take away depending on what is planned that day. If all the stars are completed & moved onto the right side by supper, they get a sticker for their chart. Full chart = "allowance", a.k.a money management or math class :)

and then we got busy...

Ugh. It has been too long since I posted last. I have a goal of posting every weekend but then we got busy...

You would think that with me turning off the computer during the day the house would be organized, the boys would be clean, and I would be nearly bored. Nope to all accounts :) 

So this is the last 3 weeks summarized into a few photos:

The boys and I went on a field trip to an old west horse ranch outside of Paso Robles but soon after arriving we realized the van went completely dead. We have never had a problem with our van (& haven't since) but it was without a doubt not going to start. C was just a few miles away working so he came up to our rescue. We could've called AAA but he had been contemplating coming with us that morning but decided to work and found this a ready excuse to come after all :) We were glad to have him :)

Soon after S turned 1, he realized not only are those red things in the garden strawberries, he was now tall enough & heavy enough to reach them (the fence is to keep the rabbits out :)). Every day he ventures over & peeks in :)

Speaking of S turning 1, he now has shoes! Many thanks to his Aunts & Uncles: he grabbed his birthday money and bought his first pair :) He's so proud of them!

We had hot weather! For 3 days it was in the low 100s :) I switched their lessons for the week to reflect that: one of the days they enjoyed a frozen treasure hunt (I don't think S was too thrilled with the first touch :) He did enjoy it later on)

Z is on a game spree :) We hadn't even finished eating supper when the cards came out:

and then the next day I came out from putting S to nap and found they started playing all by themselves. They are getting so grown up {tear}.

 I'm not sure how J got them (I can guess, though!), but he came in the house the other day with bug wings so we whipped some magnifiers out to see the textures & colors better. We are such a boy house! :)

I was desperate for a clean van so the boys did their books while I cleaned :)

1st rain day of the season! Yes!

On Thursday we went on another field trip to a 118 year old fruit farm. The rain let up just long enough for us to run out & glean 80 pounds! of apples off the ground and then it started pouring again. We were soaked! It seemed a shame to leave all those beautiful apples behind but now that I still have about 50 pounds left and I'm getting kind of worn out from peeling, cutting, cooking/drying, and figuring out what to do with them, it's probably a good thing we were stopped! :)  We will for sure enjoy eating all the "fruits of our labor" in the months to come!

C is in the backyard right now working on the new coop... should be done soon... hopefully I can blog about the finished project next weekend :) Love ya!

water balloons!

I bought them a while back hoping we'd reach above our famous 65*- and today it hit 80*! Yay! So we headed out & sprayed them, 'baseballed' them, pinata'd them... & enjoyed every bit!

 (excuse the mess in the background! the boys put all their belongings by the door...)

rain day!

Back in January it was predicted no more rain until at least April- yuck! But! The weather man just can't predict God, now can he?? =] We've had rain the last 2 weekends & we also had it yesterday morning- just enough to enjoy & wet the land :) I finally made it WM the other day & managed to remember to get some plastic protectors to which I made the boys some new "fun" letter thingys (sorry, brain isn't grabbing the right word!). Anyway, the point is, the boys love them & practice writing their letters at the same time =] Soooo they practiced:

and then we played! =]
I can't help it! I'm addicted to dirt... It was lightly drizzling, a beautiful peaceful morning, S was sleeping, & the strawberry plants were just staring at me, begging to be planted. So, I obliged them & do you see what I see?? The makings of strawberry rhubarb pie:
I also see sunflowers stretching up, beets popping out of the ground, spinach & lettuce begging to be salad, carrots- well, the carrots are just showing me theirs greens still =], & some kind of squash I didn't label but will eventually figure out what it is =] Mmmmm
I love fun rain days! =]

weather-wise

Whew! We had some hot weather this week! When it hit 98*, even the little guy started showing skin =]

We decided to take pity on the avocado tree in a pot & plant it finally... but the boys stole the opportunity to play in the hole first...

And now today it's a perfect 72* & the house is looking great! It should be fully painted in a few days- more pics to come! =]

long awaited for

As soon as the boys got up yesterday & realized it was raining, it was a chore to get them to eat breakfast in all their eagerness to grab umbrellas & boots & head out. They had been looking forward to puddle jumping all summer =] On top of that, S, for the first time in a week, took a morning nap- which is usually the boys & I's "bonding" time- allowing us to finally do something fun together- you know, like old times =]

I also snuck in some learning as we floated duckies down the street & discussed floating vs sinking =]
Then, a few hours later, the sun came out & it was mud pie time! It was well worth waiting all summer for =]